日向導 - A Hyūga's Guide

Chapter Thirty Nine: Three Wolves [I]

Sixteen Years Ago.

His back slammed into the cold concrete wall behind him as blood splattered on the ground. Groaning softly, he struggled to lift himself up properly but refused to look up at his attackers. Not out of fear, no, he was never scared of them; rather, he avoided their gaze to hide the animalistic look in his eyes. One of complete hatred and a deep desire to tear them from limp to limp, and show them what a real beast looked like.

One would think that, given his age, he would be treated with some form of respect, but this village, and its people, did not respect him. They chastised him; called him names, knocked him down, and in most cases — like now — a few of the younger men would beat him until they were satisfied.

He was the odd one out. The outlier. The loner. The Weird One who kids snickered and pointed fingers at. He hated it, and them, and everyone around him, but most of all — Toneri hated himself.

His head was pulled back by his hair, his forehead dripping red sticky liquid as the small group in front of him laughed as they made some jokes that his ears refused to listen to. His cheek was patted tauntingly, and a bright white smile came into view before turning into a snarl.

"What are you looking at?" The face was familiar, everyone's faces were, but he couldn't put a name to his assailant.

Toneri blinked and averted his gaze to focus on the small songbird that hopped on the ledge of the building above him. It sang its song, tilted its head and stared back at him. Unbeknownst to him, a smile had formed on his face, angering whoever held him enough to bring his face down to their knees and a sickening crunch was heard as he screamed.

They laughed and watched as he stared at his bloodied hands while trying to cover his nose. Their laughter didn't stop as they left the alleyway, completely unaware of the beast that they angered. Holding his nose carefully, Toneri bit his lip, drawing even more blood to join the rest that soaked his clothes, as he fixed his nose back in place. How many times was that going to happen? It didn't hurt any less than the first three times, and he still wasn't used to it.

The songbird tweeted again, and flew down to a window's ledge, watching him again. Lifting up his hand in an inviting manner, Toneri smiled again and beckoned the bird forward. It hesitated at first, poking its head forward and back every time he took another step. He knew that he looked a mess, definitely not easy on the eyes since he was covered in dirt and blood, but his warm smile did the job. The bird was perched on his finger, happily singing as he brought it up to his face.

"This world has predators." Toneri whispered as he moved the bird from his finger to the palm of his hand. "Some of them mask themselves as friends." He looked up at the entrance of the alleyway, "as family, but all they want to do is hurt you." His eyes narrowed. "Hurt you until they kill you, but they can't do that if you hurt them first."

The songbird exploded.

He blinked, the remains of the small creature felt warm in his hands, different from his own blood. "Sorry." He mumbled as he wiped his hand against his yukata.

It took some time for him to get up; he spent a few minutes sitting there with his back against the wall and a tranquil look on his face, which betrayed the horrid thoughts he was having. His bright, almost glowing, blue eyes opened and he stared at the sky. With a tired huff, he stood up and left the alleyway, quickening his steps and hiding the blood prints on his yukata as he walked home.

The door slammed shut behind him, and his back was pressed against the shōji panels as he looked around the house. He lived alone, the only blessing he got from this village; he was not bothered when he was at home. Toneri didn't have parents, not ones he could remember anyway, everyone told him that they died — or worse, they left him in hopes that he would die instead. That didn't bother him at all, at least he did not have to answer them about his whereabouts.